Recap of Chapter Two
'Excellent,' said Blaise, rubbing his hands together. 'Theo, pour another round. Let's have a game of 'I have never' to cement our new friendship,' he grinned wolfishly.
'Not a chance,' Hermione laughed. 'Do you really think I'm daft enough to play that with a roomful of snakes? I need to unpack and I could use an early night.' She made to get up but Malfoy put his hand on her arm to stop her.
'Come on Granger, live a little,' he said.
'I'm going to end up regretting this,' she groaned, completely missing the look exchanged by the three Slytherins.
A/N: Wow. The response in terms of favourites, alerts and reviews has been much quicker for this story and I've only published two short chapters – you guys are amazing! (That or you all have similarly dirty minds to my own, heh). Shout-outs to reviewers Virginie Cires, GeekybyNature, pgoodrichboggs, LullabyTales, kimbclar, shaymars, Dul'mephistos, Shola2001 and my anonymous guest.
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Chapter Two – I have never…
Once everyone had a fresh glass of firewhisky Theo decided to start. He had a fair idea that his housemates were going to focus on sex with this game so he chose to ease Granger in with something relatively mild. 'I have never been skinny dipping in the Great Lake,' he said. The boys all took a drink and Hermione's eyes widened.
'Are you mad? Skinny dipping in Scotland?' She asked, giggling a little. She was feeling nicely merry with the amount of alcohol already in her system.
'It was a dare,' shrugged Zabini, as if it explained everything, which for the Slytherins it probably did.
'I have never been kissed,' offered Malfoy and everyone took a drink. Theo narrowed his eyes, he knew fine well that Malfoy was lulling her into a false sense of security before they went to the next level. Everyone took a drink and Blaise turned to Hermione expectantly.
'Well, dolcezza? Do we get to hear the salacious details?' He quizzed, wiggling his eyebrows at her.
'Nothing very juicy I'm afraid,' she laughed. 'Victor gave me a chaste kiss at the Yule Ball and I may have accidentallysnoggedRonintheChamberofSecretsduringthebattle,' she mumbled.
'Sorry Princess, I didn't quite catch that. Say again?' Smirked Malfoy. She scowled, they both knew he'd heard her perfectly.
'I kissed Ron in the heat of the moment during the final battle. It was a mistake,' she sighed.
'You were in the Chamber of Secrets?' Asked Blaise, looking astounded.
'Yes, to get basilisk fangs so I could destroy a horcrux,' she explained. Seeing their stunned faces she added, 'it's a long story, now's not the time.' The last thing she felt like talking about was the war. Malfoy knew that feeling and deflected attention by asking about Ron.
'So you finally realised it was time to stop mooning over the Weasel?' He gave a teasing smile to show there was no malice intended.
'Something like that. I still like him, but because of one kiss he's spent the summer pushing for more and I'm not ready for that yet,' she blushed, wanting to change the subject. She was not about to start discussing her personal life with the snakes. 'Moving on,' she continued, 'I have never caught a member of staff in flagrante.' She was the only one to take a drink. She followed it by making a zipping motion with her thumb and index finger across her mouth. 'I'm taking it to the grave, trust me, you don't want to know who it was and what they were doing,' she shuddered at the memory of Filch pleasuring Umbridge in the DADA classroom. Urgh. There wasn't enough firewhisky in the world to bleach that picture out of her mind!
Blaise looked intrigued but didn't pursue it, deciding to get straight to the point instead. 'I have never had sex,' the snakes all drank and Hermione rolled her eyes. She'd guessed this was coming as soon as he had suggested playing the game. She wasn't particularly embarrassed, it was fairly obvious that they were all more experienced than her. Most people were.
'I have never had an orgasm,' Theo stated and again they all drank except her. Malfoy quirked a brow and immediately said, 'I have never masturbated.' The Slytherins took a drink and Blaise choked on his when he saw Hermione's glass remain still. Her cheeks were now aflame and she was getting angry. They were just doing this to humiliate her! 'Really Princess, you've never wanted to explore yourself? No wonder you're so uptight half the time,' he drawled.
Shooting daggers at Malfoy she snapped, 'I have never duelled a Death Eater!' That'll shut him up. To her astonishment he drank with her. Her jaw dropped and one word bounced through her head: who?
'The subject is off limits,' he said before she could ask, his voice clipped and his face closed. 'Your turn Blaise,' he added, making it clear that he wouldn't be drawn further.
'I have never had a sexual fantasy about a professor,' Blaise said. They all turned to Theo in surprise as he lifted his glass. 'Seriously, Nott? Which one?' Blaise quizzed.
Theo looked uneasy. 'Hooch,' he admitted sheepishly. Malfoy gave a bark of laughter. 'What? She's actually pretty sexy you know, especially when she blows that whistle and-' he was interrupted by Blaise. 'Enough, I don't want to hear any more!'
Theo grinned maliciously, 'I have never fantasised about someone in this room', and holding Zabini's gaze for a moment he then turned to look at Malfoy. Theo himself had no problem confessing that he'd thought about Granger that way, but he knew it would kill his friends to admit it. To his surprise she took a sip of her drink, avoiding looking at any of them.
Malfoy turned to look at her as he put his glass back down. Unexpected and interesting. He wondered which one of them she had thought about. It had taken an effort for him to raise his glass to his lips but he hadn't been surprised when Zabini and Nott did. He suspected quite a few of the male population of Hogwarts harboured impure thoughts of the virginal bookworm and being the first to deflower her.
'Well I think I'll turn in,' Hermione said quietly and made to get up. Before she could stir Blaise had moved to her chair and lifted her into his lap. Flashing a warning look at Malfoy he held her gently and said apologetically, 'I'm sorry Hermione, we didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. There's no need to scamper off like a scared little mouse.' She huffed but to his surprise she settled into his chest. It felt good to be held. She wasn't exactly starved of affection, most of the Weasley's were huggers (although she now tried to avoid physical contact with Ron, he couldn't give a simple hug anymore without trying to snog and / or grope her). But there was something about being cuddled into someone's lap, she closed her eyes and tried to work out what it was.
The three men raised their eyebrows at each other, they hadn't expected this reaction and Malfoy wondered if Blaise had been the one Granger fantasised about. The thought was somehow displeasing. She didn't seem to be wriggling or flirting however, in contrast to someone like Parkinson, who would have leapt at the opportunity and been all over him.
After a few moments Hermione realised what it was that felt so comforting – the last time she had experienced this kind of affection had been when she was much younger and her dad had sat her on his knee to read stories to her. She missed that childhood innocence and the days when she would listen to stories of Paddington Bear or Winnie the Pooh, so much had happened since then. She'd seen things that no one her age should have seen, she'd fought in a war and won but she hadn't emerged unscathed. None of them had.
'Hey Princess, it's okay,' she looked up just as Malfoy wiped a treacherous tear from her cheek, his voice soft and his eyes concerned. Blaise tightened his hold on her.
'What's wrong, dolcezza? Did the game upset you that much? You have nothing to be ashamed of you know, just because we're all man whores. In fact your innocence is rather endearing.' Hermione could hear the smile in his voice and gave a quiet sniffle.
'I'm not upset, really. This will sound pathetic but the last time I was held like this was when I was little and my dad used to read to me. I miss him and my mum. I miss that feeling of being looked after,' she stopped abruptly, suddenly aware that she had said too much, given too much away. Her swift movement took Blaise by surprise and she was able to stand up without him stopping her. Practically running to the staircase she tossed a hurried goodnight over her shoulder and ran for the sanctuary of her room before she could embarrass herself any further.
Malfoy felt something flip in his stomach and judging by his friends' faces he wasn't the only one. Silently Blaise poured another round of drinks and they began to speak in low tones.